The weather forecast was good for today – sunny intervals and dry until maybe late afternoon. I was hoping for some great photos from my trip round the Black Isle. It was chilly when I set off after breakfast, and headed through town on NCN 1. I passed one of the bed and breakfasts that I’d been considering for staying, just by the railway station, and left town on a cycleway (shared use path) alongside the main road. My new bike computer was making strange beeping noise as I’d gone slightly off the planned route, and I knew I’d have to get used to how it worked along the way. At the roundabout I continued left on the cycle path and crossed the wide River Conon, coming to a sign for An T-Eilean Dubh – The Black Isle.
It’s not actually an island but a peninsula, surrounded on three sides by the sea; Cromarty Firth, Moray Firth and Beauly Firth. Shortly after the sign for the Black Isle I turned left on the B9163 and headed up the west side of the Isle. On my left I had some great views of Cromarty Firth, and I picked out all the places I had ridden through on my last ride; Evanton, Alness, Dalmore, Invergordon and all the seafaring industry sites. I also saw another flight of geese heading somewhere north. On my right was arable farming land, dipping slightly away from me before rising again to the horizon. At one point I passed a rural cemetery with far more burials in it than would be expected given the sparseness of population. I crossed the A9 with its fast moving traffic and began climbing for a mile and a half. At the top of the climb I turned to look behind me and was rewarded with a fabulous view of the Cromarty Firth with the hills behind.
Continuing on, the road passed the occasional house or farm, one of which had an interesting metal fish sculpture below the house name. Shortly after Balblair I came across the Kirkmichael Trust, which is an interesting medieval church. Further along I stopped alongside Newhall Burn as my eye had been caught by some interesting small flowers by the side of the stream, no idea what they were. The road continued past the RSPB Udale Bay nature reserve and on through Jemimaville, a small planned village from the 1820s. Although the sun was shining, I seemed to be battling into a chill northerly wind, which made it a bit of a struggle in places, but soon I was entering the town of Cromarty and found a cracking cafe near the jetty – Slaughterhouse Coffee – where I stopped for a latte and a cherry bakewell blondie.
Setting off again, I threaded through the town and left on the A382 going uphill, despite my bike computer telling me to do a U-turn. At the top of the hill, I came to the conclusion that I had indeed gone wrong and turned back, flying downhill and heading out of town along a quieter road that soon rose very steeply, passing a farmer with a dog herding sheep. At the top of the climb I turned left for another climb up to South Sutor viewpoint, a superb view from the tip of the Black Isle where the Cromarty Firth joins the Moray Firth.
Turning back from the viewpoint I rode through a farm track to pick up an unclassified road offering more superb views of the Moray Firth, soon climbing severely through tall woods before giving a nice long descent to join the A832 to head into Rosemarkie. Here, I turned off the main road to ride along the sea front, where I found a cracking beach spoiled by long lines of cars parked on the road. I rode along the front and just after Fortrose and Rosemarkie Golf club turned left for Chanonry Point, the road passing through the midst of the golf course with signs warning of golf balls for ¾ mile. Chanonry Point is well known for being a great spot for viewing bottlenose dolphins, although sadly the best time to see them is in summer. I stopped for a snack and drink, and luckily as I scanned the firth in front of me I spotted a seal poking its head above water for a few seconds before diving back underwater again.
After a rest I headed back through Fortrose and picked up the old railway path to Avoch. This was a fairly muddy track running high above the main road, and had a couple of interesting features along the way, including a couple of benches. Partway along the track I somehow lost the map view from my bike computer, and so stopped by one of the benches to try to sort it out. I managed to get the map back and set off again, and the track came to an end in Avoch alongside Avoch Old Churchyard. From here my route took me through Avoch and out onto some farm roads that varied from hard packed gravel vehicle tracks to muddy, potholed tracks to a final stretch of grassy track. This ultimately spat me out on the A832 through a private residence, and I followed this road to turn left into Munlochy, where there was a lovely view of Munlochy Bay.
Leaving Munlochy, I turned left off the B9161 to climb up towards Kessock Caravan Park. Twice on the climb I had cars coming in the opposite direction waiting for me at passing places as I toiled uphill. I have been impressed on many occasions by the courtesy shown to me by drivers in Scotland. Following the climbing I was treated to a good downhill to the A9, where I picked up NCN 1 again which ran as a cycle path alongside the busy A9 for a short while before leaving to join an unclassified road heading west. At this point I had a good view of the third firth of the day, Beauly Firth.
I followed NCN 1 along the rolling roads with views of the arable farming land that makes up much of the Black Isle on my right. After joining the A832, I crossed the roundabout with the A9 and followed another cycle path alongside the A835. Whilst being a good, safe, well surfaced path (apart from a small stretch where it look as if the path was subsiding, and I had to dodge some traffic cones), the cycling was a bit soulless as a result of having a busy road so close. Fortunately after a couple of miles NCN 1 left the A road and joined the B9169 before turning left for a fast downhill stint back to the B9163 where I’d started my journey into the Black Isle. From here I retraced my route back to the roundabout outside Dingwall where I noticed to my horror that my bike computer hadn’t been recording the ride for the last twenty miles or so. It was a disappointing end to a day that had delivered wonderful views in some glorious weather, but not so disappointing as to spoil it. The Black Isle has delivered all I had hoped it would, in spades.
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